Abdul Rauf Popal

Abdul Rauf Popal (1972-27 October 2007) was a commander of the Islamic State of Iraq during the Iraq War. Popal was formerly a soldier of Ba'athist Iraq under Saddam Hussein, but later commanded Iraqi insurgents against United States forces. He was killed in Operation Flaming Bird.

Biography
Abdul Rauf Popal was born in 1972 to a Sunni Muslim family in Baghdad, Ba'athist Iraq (present-day Iraq). Popal served in the Gulf War in the army of Saddam Hussein in 1990-1991, receiving experience with firearms. Popal later became a commander of Iraqi insurgents after the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, leading opposition to the occupation of Iraq by MNFI forces. Popal later became a commander of the Islamic State of Iraq after the downfall of al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2006, and Popal commanded ISI troops in Baghdad. In 2007, he launched an offensive to expel the US Marine Corps from his capital city, but the Americans countered it with Operation Flaming Bird, their operation to capture Saddam Square and take down the Saddam statue there. Popal was killed in action during the operation.